The culmination of Sultana’s Summer Program progression is our Apprentice Expeditions.Tailored specifically for high school students, these trips feature our longest and most ambitious itineraries.Apprentice Expeditions are designed to address higher-level science concepts, and often include visits with professionals in various fields of marine/estuarine science.These trips strive to introduce participants to some of the technical and professional skills they would need as future trip leaders.

SULTANA Eight-Day Trip

This eight-day, seven-night expedition for high school students is designed to give participants professional-level training in shipboard operations while exploring high-school and introductory collegiate concepts in environmental science. Departing from Crisfield, Maryland, the schooner SULTANA visits several iconic Chesapeake destinations, with potential stops including Annapolis, St. Michaels, and Baltimore. The trip will also see SULTANA visit several quiet and pristine tributaries on Maryland’s Eastern Shore before concluding the trip in the 18th century Sassafras River port of Georgetown, Maryland.

As with all live-aboard trips on the schooner SULTANA, participants will live and work in close quarters with their fellow students and SULTANA’s professional crew.Healthy meals are prepared by the vessel’s cook and eaten family-style in a communal setting.At night students sleep under the stars on deck or in the vessel’s main hold. Participants can look forward to extensive time sailing and handling the schooner, learning the basics of navigation, standing watch, collecting scientific data, exploring ashore, and having fun with their shipmates.Our goal by the end of the trip is to have all participants familiar with the core skills they would need to serve as an entry-level crew member on a vessel like SULTANA.

Logistics & Details

Trip travels between Crisfield/Georgetown

Trip begin on Tuesday at 11:00 am

Trips end on Tuesday at 3:00 pm

Ages 14-18

Tuition: $900 (partner school discount available)

2018 Dates

July 17 – 24 / Crisfield to Georgetown Yacht Basin

Eight-Day Kayak Trip

First launched in the summer of 2017, the Sultana Education Foundation is working in partnership with the College of William and Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) to offer an Eight-Day Kayak Trip for high school students featuring a new emphasis on coastal estuarine studies. A central goal of this program is to expose high school students to academic tracks and professional careers related to environmental science.

The first four days of the program are based from Sultana’s wilderness camp on the Nanticoke River, from which the group can paddle the Nanticoke River, Pocomoke River, and Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge by day, while tent camping at night.Participants will also visit the University of Maryland’s Horn Point Oyster Sanctuary, where they will meet with staff scientists and graduate students to learn more about the operations of one of the United State’s largest oyster hatcheries.

On the fifth day of the trip, the group will move south to the VIMS campus in Wachapreague, Virginia adjacent to The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia Coast Preserve, the East Coast’s longest coastal wilderness.For the remainder of the trip the group will live in the VIMS dormitory and work with both Sultana and VIMS staff to explore pristine barrier islands (both by research boat and kayak), conduct laboratory experiments, and learn about ongoing research at VIMS’ Wachapreague campus.